9 Things First-Time Costco Shoppers in South Carolina Wish They’d Known

South Carolina has seven Costco warehouses.

For a lot of residents, that’s not exactly next door.

A membership card gets a first-time shopper in the door, not a map of every quirk waiting past it.

Here’s what first-time Costco shoppers in South Carolina say they wish they’d known before their first haul.

Note: Membership fees and store policies are subject to change, so confirm the current details with your local Costco membership counter.

1. Executive Reward Isn’t Automatic

A Costco Gold Star membership costs $65 a year. An Executive membership costs $130, and that extra $65 buys a 2% reward on qualifying purchases at Costco, Costco.com, and Costco Travel.

What the membership counter doesn’t always explain is how that reward reaches a shopper’s hands.

It’s not automatic.

Costco mails Executive members a paper certificate roughly three months before renewal, capped at $1,250 for any 12 months, and a cashier applies it at checkout once it’s handed over.

Skip that mailer, and the reward just sits unused until the next one shows up.

2. Executive Members Get the Floor First

Costco now reserves the first hour of every day for Executive members only.

Weekdays and Sundays, that early window runs 9 to 10 a.m. On Saturdays, it runs 9 to 9:30 a.m.

Gold Star waits.

The policy took effect chainwide in 2025, and it covers the food court, the pharmacy, and the optical department, not just the main floor.

A first-time Gold Star shopper who shows up at 9:15 hoping to beat the crowd waits at the door until it opens to everyone.

3. Food Court Now Checks Your Card

For years, a hungry stranger could walk straight to Costco’s food court and order lunch without ever joining.

The scanner decides now.

Costco has started installing membership scanners at food court kiosks warehouse by warehouse through 2026, and wherever one lands, a valid card is required before an order goes through.

A first-time member who brings a friend along for lunch will find that friend needs their own card, a household card, or a Shop Card to eat.

The old walk-in loophole is closing warehouse by warehouse.

4. Returns Have a Silent Clock on Electronics

Costco’s return policy has a reputation for carrying no clock at all, and for many items, that’s close to true.

Electronics are the exception.

TVs, laptops, tablets, cameras, drones, and cell phones carry a 90-day return window, counted from the day the item arrives, not the day it’s purchased.

Miss the window on a laptop that stops working in month four, and Costco’s Concierge Services can still walk a member through the manufacturer’s warranty, which Costco often extends to two full years.

It’s worth a call.

5. Alcohol Still Needs the Card Here

Fourteen states let a shopper walk up to a Costco liquor register and buy wine or beer with no membership at all because state law forces those warehouses to hold a public liquor license.

Not South Carolina.

A transplant who shopped Costco in Texas or New York without a card can’t do the same thing at a Charleston or Greenville warehouse.

South Carolina’s alcohol laws carry no such carve-out, so the membership card covers every aisle, beer and wine included.

That catches new members off guard around a holiday, standing at the register with a case of wine and no card in hand.

6. Gas Pump Ignores Half Your Wallet

Costco's fuel islands run on an exclusive deal with Visa, so the pump reads Visa credit cards, most personal identification number (PIN) debit cards, Costco Shop Cards, and Visa-linked mobile wallets.

Nothing else works.

A Mastercard, an Amex, or a handful of cash won't work at the pump, even from a paying member.

The workaround is a Costco Shop Card bought ahead of time with any other card, which the pump accepts the same as a membership card.

7. Quitting Costs Nothing, Even in December

Costco backs its membership with a full refund at any point, for any reason, and the guarantee isn't prorated.

A shopper who joins in January, shops all year, and cancels in November gets the entire $65 or $130 back.

That's the whole thing back.

Cancel in person at any membership counter for an immediate refund, or call and have it land back on the original payment method within a few business days.

8. Sale Price After Checkout Isn't Gone

Buy something at Costco, and watch the price drop two weeks later, and the sale isn't necessarily lost.

Costco's price adjustment policy refunds the difference on anything that goes on sale within 30 days of the purchase date, weekends and holidays included in the count.

Mark the calendar.

The one exception is Costco's biggest annual sale events, where a price drop in the following 30 days doesn't trigger a refund on the earlier purchase.

9. Eye Exam Doesn't Need a Card, the Glasses Do

Federal rules force Costco's optical department to let anyone book an eye exam, member or not, the same as any optometrist's office.

The exam is open.

Buying the glasses, contacts, or hearing aids that come out of that exam is a different story, since both departments require an active membership at checkout.

A first-timer who books a stand-alone eye exam to try Costco out often walks away with a prescription and no way to fill it that same day.

Kirkland Signature Isn't Just a Generic

New members tend to treat Costco's Kirkland Signature label like a fallback, something to grab only when the name brand runs out.

That undersells it.

Kirkland Signature now accounts for close to a third of everything Costco sells, and many of those items come out of the same factories that make the name-brand version, under contracts Costco negotiates directly with manufacturers.

A first-time shopper who skips the Kirkland shelf on principle is skipping a big share of why regulars keep coming back.

Only Seven Warehouses Cover the Whole State

South Carolina's Costco warehouses sit in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach, and Spartanburg, plus a newer warehouse that opened in Indian Land, near the North Carolina line, in October 2025.

That's seven warehouses for a state of more than five million people.